Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

500 ml can, ABV is 4.6%. Golden colour, decent head. Sweetish fruity aroma, notes of artificial candy. The flavour has some malts and a little caramel, but is mostly bland and boring. The promised "hoppy bitterness" is actually minimal.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

330 ml can, thanks to yngwie. "Brewed and canned by Albani, Ceres and Faxe". ABV is 5.6%. Deep golden to amber colour, large and lingering head. Moderate nutty and grainy aroma. The flavour is sugary sweet with notes of alcohol, molasses and some caramel. Bittersweetish finish. Dry aftertaste. Not really what I want for Christmas.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

500 ml can, as Tatra Jasne Pelne, thanks to my son Steinar (bought in Krakow). ABV is 6.0%. Crystal clear pale golden colour, big to moderate white head. Strong sweetish aroma, notes of "banana" candy, hints of flowers and new-mown grass. Moderate carbonation in the glass. Medium sweet flavour of malt sugar and candy, decent hops in the finish. Not a beer I’d buy again, but drinkable.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

750 ml corked and wired bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.9%, EBU 36. Hazy deep golden colour, moderate white head. Moderate aroma of Belgian ale yeast, notes of fruits and mild spices. Fizzy mouthfeel. The flavour is spicy, with a distinct hoppy bite in the finish. Fairly dry.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

330 ml bottle, Norwegian version (4.5%), courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Also bought at REMA 1000 grocery store. Drank it a bit too warm. Golden colour, low head. The aroma has moderate notes of malts and dust. The flavour has an acceptable presence of malts, but there is nothing "extra" about the amount of hops. Still, a tolerable bitterness in the finish and aftertaste.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

750 ml stubby bottle, non-pasteurised, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.2%. Very pale yellow colour, big white head. Lovely aroma of flowery, herbal and fruity hops. The flavour is crisp and fresh with a moderate sweetness, herbal and floral hops throughout. Fine bitterness in the finish. One of the best pilseners I’ve had.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

500 ml bottle, at Murphy’s 8541 Irish pub, Skødstrup. ABV is 5.2%. Pilsener with birch syrup added. Golden colour, slightly hazy, moderate head. Nice aroma of Saaz hops and birch syrup. Fresh pilsener flavour with moderate but noticeable hops, the birch syrup is present as an airy notion in the background. Well worth sampling.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

(Bottle and can). Formerly contract brewed for Norgesgruppen (Norwegian grocery stores) by Christianssands Bryggeri, part of the Hansa-Borg group, but now contract brewed by Aass Bryggeri. Typical uninteresting industrial pilsener, nothing offensive here, but very little to make you happy. I still have to admit I buy it sometimes, as it is CHEAP (by Norwegian standards). I think the quality improved a little when Aass took over.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

330 ml can, at Gladmatfestivalen, Stavanger. ABV was 4.8%. Golden colour, moderate head. Nice Saazer(?) aroma, notes of honey. Tolerably well hopped pilsener flavour.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

On tap in the Faroe Islands tent at the ONS 2008, Stavanger. Served ice cold (= minimal taste). Golden colour, low head. Moderate sweetish aroma. Fizzy mouthfeel. Bland pale lager flavour, nothing particularly offensive, but nothing to make you happy either. The Faroese singer Hanus G. Johansen made my day, the beer did not.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

330 ml green bottle, now available in Norway. ABV is 4.7%. Crystal clear pale golden colour, moderate head. Sweetish aroma with some fruity hops. The flavour is surprisingly similar to an "ordinary" German pilsener, fairly crisp and "clean" with decent hops in the finish. This must be good news for pilsener fans with coeliac disease!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

330 ml stubby bottle, bought at Hotel Havana, Oslo. Brewnr. 2, BB date July 2009. ABV is 4.7%. Hazy golden colour, huge and lasting head. Aroma of citrus and cider, hints of cider vinegar. The flavour is citrussy and vinegary sour, apparently infected, like so many other batches from Små Vesen. Not a drainpour, but pretty close.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

500 ml brown bottle, Fiçi Bira, special design. ABV is 5%. Shared with my beerpal Olav who bought it in Turkey, thx! Golden colour, moderate white head. Initially a whiff of standard pilsener aroma with some hops, then a very moderate sweetish aroma with notes of malts and maize. Standard pilsener flavour, no offensive sidenotes (unlike other Efes beers), moderate hops.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

On tap in a beach bar in Jurmala, Latvia. Golden colour, moderate head. Distinctly malty aroma and flavour with notes of butterscotch (diacetyl). Moderate hops in the finish.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

500 ml brown PET-bottle, a gift from Germany. It is "Gebraut und abgefüllt in Deutschland" - "Exclusively for Plus" (a German supermarket chain?), "By: HGI Hanseatische Getränke-Industrie GmbH, 22755 Hamburg". ABV is 4.9%. Pale golden colour, large head. Sweetish fruity aroma, not bad. The flavour is rather moderately hopped for a German pils, there is a very moderate sweetness in the background. Not a great pils by any means, but not repulsive either. At least it is "Reinheitsgebot" ... I guess this is pretty much what you can expect from German contract brewed supermarket discount pilseners.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

500 ml green bottle, as "Golden Pheasant Premium", bought in Riga, Latvia. ABV is 5% - or that’s what the rear label reads. There is also a small white sticker in Latvian on the bottle-neck, reading a.o.: "Alkohola saturs 4%". Is the latter alchohol by weight? - or is one of the labels wrong? Anyway, the beer pours with a golden colour and a large white head. The aroma is very Heineken-like, but somewhat better: Fresh aromatic hops with flowery and fruity notes (most BMC drinkers would probably call it "skunky"). Soft mouthfeel. The flavour has moderate but acceptable hops on a background of mellow and sweet pilsener malts. There’s a hint of honey. I’ve had worse pilseners than this one.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

On tap at Gladmatfestivalen 2007, Stavanger. ABV is 4.5%. Golden colour, creamy head. Moderate but pleasant Saaz aroma. The flavour has a distinct Saaz bitterness from start to finish. Probably the best (or one of the best) pilsener(s) brewed in Norway so far.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

500 ml bottle, bought at Ole Simon, Sandnes. ABV is 4.6%. Pale golden colour, large and lasting head. Flowery and sweetish aroma, okay. Fairly hoppy flavour. Deserves the name "pilsener" - I’ve had many a "pils" that was far worse than this one. This is a quite good one, actually.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

Bottle, at RBESG 2007 in Glasgow, Grand Tasting. Pale golden colour. Moderately hoppy aroma. A fairly malty pilsener with some "boiled" notes in the flavour. Drank it too warm though.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle, RBESG 2007 in Glasgow, Grand Tasting. Pale golden colour. Nice hoppy aroma. Fairly decent and distinctly hoppy pilsener flavour. Not a bad Swedish pilsener this one.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

500 ml bottle. Golden colour, low head. Interesting malty aroma with hints of hayloft and sheepshed - very nice. An unusual pils! Flavour is distinctly malty with just enough hoppiness to call it a pils. Good beer!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(5 liter mini-keg, bought in Norway, ABV was 4.9%). Moderate aroma of hay, light golden colour, enormous head when poured from the mini-keg - like the head of a weissbier. Clean crisp flavour, good bitterness makes this a better-than-average pilsener. The mini-keg is great for parties!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(5 liter minikeg, bought in Norway - ABV here is 4.5%. The ABV in Germany is supposed to be 4.9%. I think "Kulmbacher Premium Pils" is an alias of this beer. Not be be confused with the Kulmbacher Mönchshof Original). Typical pils golden colour, large head. Hoppy but not very strong aroma. Flavour is surprisingly malty, slightly sweeter and less crisp than the somewhat stronger EKU Pilsner which I prefer (also in a minikeg). Still, this is a rather tasty pilsener, miles ahead of the many tasteless "neutral" pilseners you get these days.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

In Norway it's only 4.5% ABV. Regarded as an average pils here, but it's actually quite clean tasting and decent as far as Norwegian pilseners go. Crisp, refreshing. The somewhat stronger export version is of course more powerful and probably slightly better.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(330 ml bottle). A "Swedish profile Bohemian pilsener" - whatever that may be, this is supposed to be it. Typical pils golden colour, moderate head. Above average hoppy aroma, good but not remarkable flavour, well above average bitterness. Not as good as the best Czech pilseners, but far better than the average "neutral" swill.